Metallic, greyish film covering wort before boil

[SnowBird]

I am quite a few all grain batches in with no previous problems. Yesterday however I went to re brew a batch I have already done in the past. The problem started when trying to empty the mash tun. It was completely stopped up, nothing but a slow drip coming out. It took about 15 min of blowing back into the mash over and over to get it all out. Instead of a light golden color it was almost dark grey.

I dumped the grain bed into a pot to look for a clog, found nothing so replaced the grains and sparged. Again it was immediately clogged up. This time I just let it sit. After it finally drained, 30 min or so, I went to look in and it looked like there was a layer of cement over the grain bed. I stuck my finger in and underneath the clay like layer the grains looked great.

I started to boil, Because everything I read on here says to relax. Before the water started to boil a greyish foam started rising up. I really wanted to just dump it and start over, it looked bad, really bad. I opened a beer and continued on. In the end it came out looking normal. Nice golden color with a good protien break. My og was 1.087 instead of 1.070. And this morning I woke to my airlock bubbling away.

With all that said, should I be worried about the grey wort to start with or metallic foam rising up? Anyone have any ideas as to what it could be?

My LHBS just got a new grinder in that day and he was also brewing, with his first clog as well. So I am fairly certain it was crushed to fine. But why they greyish coloring? Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[SnowBird]

I have pics of it all and will upload them when I get home in about 2 hours. I thought I could upload from my phone but can't.

 

[runningweird]

sounds like too fine a crush - next time try some rice hulls ( or buy a mill and get a proper crush)

I don't know about the grey stuff though - might be a symptom of the grain flour.

hope it turns out well. I want to see the pics

 

[LarMoeCur]

Had you added any hops? I've seen this before when I First wort hop. The hops float on top right before the boil starts. It's really gray and thick goes away when a boil temp is reached.

 

[eastoak]

everything you describe is normal for a fine crush and will not adversely affect your beer.

 

[SnowBird]

Here are the pics, thanks for the quick responses. This is without any hop additions.

 

[SnowBird]

The top two pics are from my mash tun after everything settled out. The bottom two are two separate boiling pots. I ended up with to much water and boiled down using a few pots on my stove as well before adding to the main pot outside.

A really fine crush would make sense but its a really weird color. Also would this be one reason for such a high OG?

Its bubbling away and smells great so I am happy, I just wanted to make sure its all ok.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Rivenin]

haven't ever seen it that foamy in my brews... however, that just looks like grain material.

 

[BrewerinBR]

Looks like a lot of protein material from the grain in that foam. Definitely to fine, and yes the fine crush will bring up the SG reading, but a lot of it may not be fermentable sugars.
But I bet its a good beer!